Redemption
by Caroline L'Amoure
Summary: after the series two lone wolves seek to find the fabled paradise after seeing Kiba's pack years ago. A white gray wolf and a golden dire wolf try to get through the dangers of the human world on their journey. Will they survive, or fall to the same fate?
1. Introductions

**Wolf's Rain- The Redemption**

Ch. 1- History

It's been years since the journey of those four lone wolves to paradise, lost. Years of wondering how they turned out after seeing them coming through town from the shadows of my alley. Tall, strong male wolves were so hard to come by lately, it was almost enough to come out to feel the protection of a strong pack. The woman stopped me. No, I wouldn't say a woman. She smelled strange, like a lilac just opened in the summer breeze. She smelled like happiness and all that was good, walking next to the pure white wolf with deep blue eyes. She looked at me, looked at me as if she could see past the deep shadows I was trying to hide myself in. She had seen me, I knew it, but I couldn't move- frozen by the stare of pale red eyes. When they had left, I finally came out of my hiding place behind an old, beaten dumpster. A young wolf, in her prime, white as the snow that now fell around me. To others of my kind I look like a young woman, in her early twenties, white hair flowing down her back and blue eyes the color of permafrost. A tight white shirt covered me, along with flared baggy jeans. I leaned against the wall of my home and looked down at my feet in sadness. I should have followed them. I should have traveled with them.

I had finally gotten the courage to leave the city I was born in, just a year ago. I now was far north of where I originally was, looking for more of my own kind. Anyone to share my life with would satisfy me. I was lonely, looking for someone to cherish. I shook my head and growled at myself in protest. I wasn't lonely, I just wanted someone to talk to. With all these thoughts racing through my head it was hard to keep things straight. I stood up, my paws cold in the deep snow, looking in all directions, wondering in which way I should head. The snow bit at the skin beneath my fur, the wind so harsh it went straight through my protective coating. So cold... perhaps I should sleep for a while until the snow stopped...

"This snow is horrible. Why the hell did I decide to leave town?" Hunter growled, holding his arms around himself as he trudged through the thick snow. Through the white of the blizzard around him he thought for a minute he saw a shape lying in the middle of the snowdrift he was walking around. He squinted his eyes (for whatever good that did him) and finally made out a definite shape that was not snow. He jumped from foot to foot in the snow, getting toward the object as quickly as he could to see it covered in a layer of frost. He wiped the snow off of it to see a woman lying in front of him, her white hair splayed around her face like a halo. White hair? No, this was no human. swallowing a lump of excitement in his throat at finally finding another wolf, he gently picked her up and continued to walk through the tundra, this time heading south, retracing his steps.

So warm... I shouldn't have fallen asleep in the blizzard. Had I died? The female wolf opened her eyes and looked up to see a golden haired man looking down at her with bright yellow eyes. Gasping and coiling into a protective ball of fear, she stared at his surprised face until she realized he wasn't going to attack him. "Who are you? Where am I?" She demanded, looking around her at the small dirty cabin she was in.  
"I'm glad you're finally awake. My name is Hunter. You collapsed out in the blizzard, so I brought you here before you froze." He said, his mouth reveiling long canines- much longer than hers. What kind of wolf was he?

"I'm Sophia. You carried me here?" She looked around, finally relaxing around him.  
"Yes. it's only a temporary stop though, we should probably get going before a human comes here and finds us."  
She nodded quietly, looking at him with wary eyes. he was handsome, she'd give him that, but he had a wild air about him that made her uneasy.  
"What?" Hunter asked, moving his head to the side in question. A very dog-like motion.

"You seem kind of... wild." Sophia said quietly, hoping to not offend him.  
"Ah, I see. Well that's probably because I'm a Dire wolf. You're a Grey wolf. Very different species." He nodded with a grin.  
Dire? Grey? "How do you know all this?"

"Ah, well you see I learned how to read when I was younger."  
"Read?!" she looked up at him in interest. "You can read books? Signs?"  
"Yeah, most anything really. I learned from an old indian woman. She was somewhat senile, so she could see me for my true form. She taught me how to read, but I could never manage to write with my mouth." He chuckled, remembering snapping the graphite pencil in his mouth and getting a taste of disgusting charcoal.

"Perhaps... you could help me then?" Sophia asked mekely.  
"Sure, what do you need?" He asked, crossing his arms and leaning in to listen.

"I'm traveling to paradise. I saw some wolves a while back traveling to the same place, but I don't know if they found it or not."  
"Paradise?" he asked, his eyebrows raised.  
"Yeah, a place that's natural, not corrupted and smoggy, where there's all the deer we could eat and plenty of spring water and forests."  
"My, that does sound nice though." Hunter thought for a minute, looked at the woman, figured she wasn't crazy and shrugged. "What the hell. I'll travel with you. It's not like I've got my own path to follow. I was just wandering."

Sophia smiled happily, her tail wagging. "It's a deal, then. We'll leave in the morning."

**Wolf's Rain... I've seen that show I don't even know how many times. It was about time I made my own characters :D Based after the series, not the books.**

**Tell me what you think! Please R+R!**


	2. Paradise Lost

-1Ch. 1- Paradise Lost

Glancing at the huge golden wolf beside me, I wonder if it was safe to bring him along. His eyes held a wild sense of adventure that makes me also want to join him, leave the world in the dust and just run and run until the world stops. It was a very dangerous feeling.

"This snow is awful. Why are we heading north, anyway?" Hunter growled as he lowered his head to fight the blizzard's onslaught.  
"That's the direction I saw the others going. Toward the mountains." She said softly, the air from her nose freezing when it hit the air, causing a slight frost to condense on the sensitive skin. Her slender legs sank through the snow as she shivered again, entirely not built for this kind of weather.  
"Hey- are you alright?" Hunter looked at her in worry as she staggered slightly. He used his larger bulk to support her with his back as they both walked through the snow, paws freezing and legs going numb. They both looked up as a shadow was cast over them, a large looming mountain. The stench of death and decay filled the air, making them both wrinkle their nose and glance to each other.  
"This might be where they were." She said desperately, hoping, dreaming that this was the place.

"Here?" Hunter looked around in confusion, seeing nothing but snow and disappointment. He looked down at Sophia's hopeful blue eyes and sighed, guiding her forward to the mountain. This place smelled like evil- he felt the urgent need to run from it- flee anywhere else, but fought it for her sake. She needed to see it.

They worked their way up the mountains slowly, Sophia struggling to get her grip with her smaller paws while Hunter bounded up easily, his huge claws gripping into the rock. They soon got to the first ledge and looked around for any sign…  
Sophia saw a mound of strangely colored snow and walked over to it, sniffing it carefully and stepped back with a cry of fear. Hunter ran to her side to see what had caused her reaction, seeing a dead black and golden wolf perfectly preserved in the freezing snow of the north. They were holding each other, trying to comfort each other as they had bled to death, the blood frozen on their sides.  
"They were… two of the wolves…" She looked around more and saw another dead wolf, this one a larger grey wolf with a scar on its chest. He was one of them as well…

It was all for nothing… All that work, the distance covered, the starving, the pain, all if it- for something that didn't exist! Sophia collapsed in sorrow and exhaustion on the hard frozen ground, her belly freezing underneath her, sending shivers through her. Hunter looked down at her in concern and nudged her with his nose lightly, making her sit up and wrap his arms around her.  
"Hey- it's alright." He said softly, trying to soothe her sadness. He was disappointed as well, but she had obviously been through a lot to get here. She cried out again, crying into his shirt as she gripped his shoulders for support.

"There's no paradise- it's… it's all a lie…" She said when she had finally calmed down, and looked up at Hunter with tear filled eyes. "What now?"  
"Now, we survive. That's what we were doing before, and we'll keep doing it now." Hunter said firmly, helping her to stand up.  
"But-"  
"No, there's no other option. We're the last of only a few wolves now. We have to go on, and make our own paradise. You can't just find it."  
"Make paradise?" She whispered, her eyes widening.  
"Aye. Come on Sophia, we'll head south. We'll get you out of this horrid snow, and into a place where we can meet others and be happy. Who knows, maybe on the way we'll pick up another trail?"

Sophia looked at him silently for a minute before finally nodding and swallowing her fear, her doubts and her sorrow. Things would turn out for the better, she would make her own paradise and learn to be happy on her own. Hunter was right, you couldn't just _find_ paradise.


End file.
